31 The savage
Next morning, before dawn even, Merlin's jesting and chuckling from last evening was forgotten.
He could no longer stay in bed. The feeling of urgency had come back to him in the quiet of the night and it hadn't left him.
The warlock was restless, his magic itself was restless and he wouldn't find peace before he saw the walls of Camelot and knew that everything was all right. He pressed and goaded the others until they had bundled together what they could grab in all haste and the first rays of sunlight found the three men on their way. A handwritten note on the door told the townspeople that their healer and favourite warrior-to-let had to tend to some business elsewhere.
The ship they took way up north had a fair wind and a fast passage, with Merlin's magic helping things along further, more or less discreetly. If the skipper suspected something of the unnaturally good sailing weather, he had the wisdom to keep his mouth shut.
They made their landfall in a well-known Welsh harbour, roughly two weeks from Camelot. It was as close as they could come by sea.
By the time they left the harbour on horseback, Merlin was the scare and fright of everyone who saw him. Without much talking the three had agreed that Merlin should pose as their leader, which, by the style of their journey, required the warlock to pose as a noble man and knight.
They had acquired or magically conjured the necessary fittings and equipment and the warlock had undergone a somewhat frightening change. Ghostly pale, haggard, in knight's clothes all black in black, with neither word nor smile for anyone around him and for the first time in his life wrapped in the arrogance of absolute power, Merlin took command.
Secretly, Gaius was taken aback. So the impression he'd won on entering Merlin's inner world had not been deceiving. The lanky, light-hearted boy from years ago had somehow grown into a man with rough edges – including haughtiness, complete self-reliance and a demand for obedience when the situation called for it.
In the latter, Merlin just copied Arthur's behaviour. But he did so with a chilling naturalness that gave a glimpse into what Emrys might become in the future.
The warlock pressed on mercilessly and still it was too slow for him. He didn't hold back, and he didn't allow the others to slow down. His magic was palpable around him and for once it didn't feel friendly.
Where ever they went, folks kept their distance.
In truth Merlin was obsessed by a strangling fear but people who met him took his cold manner for arrogance, the more so as the young black knight snapped at his two subservient companions any time they approached him. Nobody but Gaius perceived that Merlin himself could not explain what was the matter with him.
To make a bad thing worse, the warlock's fright was quite contagious. Marwon was continuously on edge and Gaius, still a bit weakened from his ordeal and the rough journey, could hardly keep up the brutal pace, but did not complain. The urgency of pressing on and on was foremost on his mind, as much as on Merlin's.
Finally they stood at the crossway where the road to Camelot and the road that would finally lead to Cendred's last known residence did meet.
There they came to a dead halt.
Merlin found he was not able to go on. He could not make up his mind which turn to take. He rejected Marwon's suggestion, abusively, to split up. Gaius' proposal to go to Camelot met with the same fate. Merlin himself gave the order to go to Cendred's borderland stronghold, only to rein in his horse after two steps.
Gaius laid his hand on the younger wizard's shoulder. "Let's rest, Merlin. We're out of our minds with fatigue. This is leading nowhere."
The warlock opened his mouth to yell at him, but he found he was lost for words. Helplessly he shrugged and nodded. "Gaius, I..."
"I know, my boy" the healer replied softy. "I know. I feel it too."
Neither of them had much fun in making camp. They nibbled listlessly at some cold meat and finally laid down for some sleep that didn't come.
Merlin rose quickly. "I'll take the first watch" he said, and before the others could hinder him, he vanished in the brushwood.
On Gaius' request, Marwon let Merlin go alone, to fight his own demons.
"What will happen, Gaius?" the Druid asked, anguished by a feeling of upcoming doom. "He's not himself, I hardly know him any more. Is it the Rashnijaan or does he know something he doesn't tell us?"
"Perhaps a little bit of both" the healer said. "Something is definitely wrong, but he wouldn't tell me more than he told you – nothing. My best guess is... something's happened to Arthur. Merlin wouldn't exactly know, but he would feel it. They're... bound to each other, prince and warlock. Two halves of the same coin. The one always feels the other's woe, no matter how far they're apart."
"And yet" Marwon said hesitantly "you told me that Emrys... didn't want to come back. From his self-made paradise. Not even for Arthur."
Gaius looked at the spot where Merlin had vanished. "No'" he said, quietly under his breath. "He didn't. He was hurt, weak and most of all he was... jealous. Now he feels that he may have waited too long, that he may have forsaken Arthur in the worst possible moment and I think it's driving him mad."
Marwon didn't look very reassured. "You think... he's right? Arthur's in trouble?"
Whatever Gaius had wanted to answer no one would ever know.
Marwon was momentarily paralysed with shock when all of a sudden a dark, huge figure broke from the brushwood in Gaius' back. Howling madly the man – or beast – threw himself on the healer and closed both claws around the old man's neck.
Gaius gasped desperately and Marwon's warrior instincts kicked in.
The Druid unsheathed his blade and attacked the intruder. However, the Druid faith was stronger than Marwon wanted to admit. Before he used his sword, he'd always try to scare an attacker off. As warning shouts did nothing to stop the creature, Marwon tried to drag him away from Gaius, whose struggling became weaker by the second.
The attacker fought back with the strength of a lunatic beyond all reason and control. It was as if Marwon was a small child, fighting a giant. The man's legs kicked viciously and the Druid was hit in the stomach with enough force to go flying.
Thrown back, Marwon lost hold of his blade, and it was hurled from his hand into the shrubs. He had no time to go after it, as the intruder was visibly resolved to break Gaius' neck any second.
The Druid approached his enemy from behind, jumped on his back and tried to loosen the grip on Gaius' throat, with no success.
Wild with fear and rage, his heart pumping hot fire through his veins, Marwon pulled his small hunting knife and cut and stabbed into the murderous hands wherever he could. In desperation he even bit the attacker in the face.
Again the Druid was thrown back. He hit the ground, hard, was winded and for a few precious moments he wasn't able to get up. His sight was blurred and in his ears a peculiar echo rang, like that of a thunderstorm nearby.
Marwon struggled to come back to his feet; as soon as he could crawl he tried once more to free Gaius, who was by now barely conscious. As loud as he could the Druid screamed Merlin's name, again and again.
When, out of the blue, a second pair of hands appeared on the attacker's shoulders, hands gloved in black iron, Marwon thought that he had won. As long as Emry's powers were by his side, nothing could go wrong. With renewed strength the Druid punched his enemy wherever he could hit him, to drive him away from his victim.
When the black gloved hand reached out for a plunge, Marwon thought that this would be it, that the fight would be over.
And it was over. The big, black iron fist hit the Druid's chin with brutal force. Marwon stumbled back, fell to his knees. The last thing he saw before all things went dark was the first attacker bending over Gaius with bared teeth, like an animal ready for the kill, while the knight in black stood behind him, doing nothing.
The Druid lost consciousness with one thought imperious in his mind, how very right he'd been to feel that doom was all around them.
When he came to, after what must have been ages, the feeling was still with him. His head hurt, he tasted bile and blood on his tongue and his whole body felt like one big bruise, from head to toe.
Cautiously, Marwon moved his fingers and toes.
To his tremendous surprise, he was neither bound nor gagged. He strained his ears while he kept his eyes closed. Warm, soft covers, beneath and above him. Someone had even taken the trouble to dress his worst injuries. Then they – whoever 'they' were – had brought him to his small tent and left him there.
For whatever reason they'd done that, they'd live to regret it. They'd murdered an old, helpless man who'd been Marwon's friend and that left no room for pacifism. They would not live to boast of it.
Quickly – or what, in his present condition qualified as 'quick' - but silently the Druid slipped out of the tent by the backside. He sneaked around the tent, taking care to make the best of the cover it gave him.
A bundle that had to be Gaius' corpse lay by the camp fire. The man – beast! - that had murdered him sat by his victim's side, softly moaning, rocking to and fro on his heels.
The knight in black sat on the other side, with his back to Marwon, apparently lost in thought. He seemed to be quite elderly, his hair was grey, unkempt, and obviously caked in dirt. Remnants of a cloak or coat partly covered the badly battered chain mail, that was, Marwon noticed it even under these dire circumstances with an expert's fond eye, of high quality. Stolen, no doubt. Who knew which unsuspecting knight had lost his life in an ambush to equip this scoundrel with that kind of armoury. The coat had also seen better days. Underneath all the dirt and baked on black mud a rim of radiant red velvet could still be seen where the sun's glare hit the material.
The rascal knight, if he was a knight at all, seemed a bit smaller than the night before. And more slender, especially at the shoulders. All in all he looked tired, worn out.
Not at all like a happy, triumphant victor.
But then, who might grasp what goes on in a criminal's head.
Besides, Marwon had other things to occupy his mind. It came to him as an icy shock that Merlin was nowhere to be seen.
So these two monsters had killed Emrys, too!
Marwon, still suffering from the aftermath of the lost battle, could not think straight. He was at the same time seething with rage, fighting the tears of grief that stung in his eyes and trying to suppress the hopeless thought that all was lost and that he might as well lie down and die.
But he would not go down alone!
With two big steps he was by the knight's side, grabbed the surprised man in a strangling grip, pulled the man's own knife from his belt, dragged the villain's head back and went directly for the exposed throat.
"Marwon, for the Gods' sake, what are you doing?" Merlin's strained voice in his back, and in the blink of an eye the knife's handle was red hot in his hand.
With a yelp, the Druid let go of the weapon and fell back, away from the knight, who now turned, the terror of the sneak attack still eminent in the dirt smeared face.
Underneath the smear and dust, the finely chiselled features of a woman. Turquoise eyes. A strand of gold blond locks had slipped out of the frayed, tattered dark grey wool cap which from behind had looked like a grubby mane of hair. Marwon recognised her at once and his lower jaw hung open.
The creature by the fire now also lifted his head and looked at Marwon, who was frozen into place by surprise as well as by Merlin's restraining hands. Something like a rest of intelligence was in the creature's expression. And wariness. The savage pondered coming to his partner's rescue, that much was obvious. "Stay where you are, Ceddy" the knight – no, the woman – said. And the wild man obeyed her instantaneously. He resumed staring into the fire, still rocking on his heels.
"I'm not saying I'm sorry about last night" the woman now addressed Marwon. "You were about to kill my brother. I do not take kindly to that!"
"But... but..." Marwon stammered. "What about Gaius?"
"He's fine" Merlin said from behind. "He's at the river behind those trees, cleaning himself up. My Lady, please explain the situation to our friend. I have to talk to Gaius!"
The warlock turned and just walked away, sure that his command would be obeyed.
"Look at him, the great saviour" the woman said sarcastically. "You should have heard how highly they all think of him, the people of Camelot. As if he were a kind of saint. If Merlin were here, this had never happened. If Merlin this, if Merlin that. And when Arthur found out what Antek had done..." She laughed, an angry, hateful huff. "One might have thought Count Llanfair had murdered a King instead of accidentally brushed off a former manservant."
She shook her head in mocked bewilderment. "Must be great, to be that popular. If one friend is lost, the great Merlin has always another to busy and distract himself with. Must be a convenient thing, to love so many people. I never could. I loved but two people in this world and I lost them on one single day."
Marwon didn't even begin to get the gist of that talk. "Would you please tell me what you are doing here, Mylady? Is this a fitting place and rig-out for the Princess Royal of Cymbria? Or for her brother the King?" An accusing hand pointed at the savage by the fire in his tattered rags.
"One" Morgyan answered, still with the same, cold bitterness, "I'm not a Princess any more. Second, my brother is no longer a King. What's left of Cymbria is occupied by Camelot's troops, with Uther doubtlessly roaming the ransacked castle grounds at night, crying out for his lost son and family. Let's just hope that the robbing of our land and people can bring some peace to a Kingly father so deeply grieved! It's more than can be said of my brother since my nephew Gyrrin was slaughtered before his very eyes!"
"Who did... Camelot?" Marwon asked, still not understanding anything.
"No, my dear Druid friend" Morgyan said, with false courtesy, "your people. Three weeks ago your dearest wife, the gentle Agneta, led your tribe against my brother's castle at night and laid wreck and ruin to it, up to the very last stone. Just like your precious Merlin once did to Blackrock Castle!"
Morgyan's voice had become louder and louder with every new sentence, and she was now panting with rage. "But unlike gentle and oh so kind-hearted Merlin, your bloody harlot spared no one, no child, no servant, no one. Burned alive my nephew was, before my brother's eyes who couldn't help him; stuck under a fallen beam was our young Gyrrin, he screamed himself to death when the beam caught fire!"
Marwon felt it like a slap in the face when she laughed again. "It stands to reason if that drove my brother over the edge or the fact that your dear wife took Antek and Arthur's wife and child. Uther and his knights used our confusion and ran like hares but two weeks later they came back, with Camelot's army."
The Princess sneered openly at the Druid's dumbfounded face. "The unfortunate King of Camelot had not wasted time in search for his daughter-in-law or grandchild. He stood before our walls, while my brother was still on his sickbed, and demanded the release of his son and heir, Prince Arthur of Camelot. As if any castle, whole or broken, could have kept Arthur after his family had been abducted! Even before his father escaped, Arthur and Leon went out, to rescue Antek, Gwen and the child. After that, we never heard of him again!"
"Let me guess: Uther didn't believe you" Marwon spat, his hand on his belt. "As I do not believe you. My people, my wife, would never do a thing like that! You're lying. Or you're mad. I don't care which. Just take your freaked out brother and get lost, before I forget myself!"
"If you want to attack me, go on" Morgyan replied heatedly. "But you might want to remember that your sword is not at your belt presently!"
"I do not need a sword to shut your lying trap!"
"I would love to see you try!"
"Hold it, both of you" Merlin commanded as he came back, Gaius panting behind him as he had run towards them as fast as possible. Stealthily the healer rubbed his aching knees and tried to breathe evenly. He was growing too old for this kind of exercise.
"Merlin" protested the Druid "you cannot believe what she's said, it can't be true..."
"Shut up, Marwon."
Merlin's eyes flashed gold and Morgyan jerked when, behind Merlin's back, the camp unravelled itself and bundled up on the horses in the blink of an eye. She wasn't used to magic acting openly. But she hadn't been Morgyan of Cymbria had she not tried to stand her ground. "I'm not taking orders from you, servant."
"For the time being, you will" Merlin sternly retorted. "We don't have time for petty quarrels. We must find Arthur and the Druids. Gaius will go to see Uther and tell him we will clear this mess up. Marwon, Morgyan, you and your brother are with me!"
"My brother and I have no need for a treacherous Druid and an upstart peasant boy!" Morgyan said coldly.
Merlin bowed his head in a parody of respect. "Princess, if you're going to develop some dark magic of your own, by all means, proceed alone. If you don't – well, it's not as if the Cymbrian throne is still in need of an heir. It'll fall to Uther anyway after you've been killed."
Morgyan turned her back on him and from now on concentrated on her brother and on getting ready for a long ride.
But when they were ready to depart, after Marwon had had a few more heated words with Merlin that achieved exactly nothing, the Cymbrians had taken their horses from their hiding place and were ready to follow Merlin and Marwon into the woods.
Although the warlock was fidgeting in the saddle with nervousness, Gaius took the time to say good-bye to Merlin. "I'll do my best to dissuade Uther from doing anything final in Cymbria. Wish me luck. You know the man."
Merlin nodded. Suddenly his cold demeanour slipped and he hugged his old friend fiercely. "Wish me luck too, Gaius. I haven't got much time."
"You have Arthur's ring now. Use the spell I told you about and it will lead you to him."
"And then, what?"
"You'll know what to do" Gaius replied gently. "I've told you everything I know. Besides - you are Emrys."
"Did I ever tell you that I can't stand this stupid sentence?"
"Not with so many words. Goodbye, my boy. Take care."
"You too, old man. There may be other freaked out royals thirsting for your blood because you once crossed them."
Gaius chuckled and his voice trailed after him when he left. "No need to remind me. I know I drove many Kings mad in my time and one especially. I'll see you all in Camelot."
"Camelot" Merlin thought when he and his group rode on to wherever the ring Arthur had given to Morgyan in the very last moment before he'd left the Cymbrian stronghold would lead them. "Four days from now, the new moon will decide if any of us will ever make it back to Camelot."