Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.
Chapter eleven:
Merlin walks slightly ahead of Mordred and Gwaine, as he tries to work out where the Mandrake roots are. But the screams seemed to be coming from every direction. Merlin turns his head to the side and looks down a narrow corridor. Hid eyes flash gold and reveal the corridor was a dead end. Merlin sighs and spins on his heels to face Mordred and Gwaine.
"We've checked everywhere," Merlin mutters. "They're not on this level."
"Onwards and upwards," Gwaine grins heading towards the stairs and Merlin almost rolled his eyes.
Mordred shares a look with Merlin before he shrugs one shoulder slightly.
"Doesn't this remind of that time we had to save the princess?" Gwaine calls over his shoulder.
"Which time?" Merlin replies.
"The one with the giant pheasants," Gwaine answers.
"Giant pheasants?" Mordred asks.
Merlin rolls his eyes.
"They were actually wyverns," Merlin explains.
"Hey, Merlin," Gwaine suddenly called from ahead of them, stopping Merlin explanation.
"What?" Merlin questions.
"We've got company… Of the dead kind," Gwaine replies.
"What?" Merlin asks. "I think I must have misheard you, did you just say 'company of the dead kind'?"
"Yeah," Gwaine nodes and points along the hallway they had just reached at the hop of the stairs.
Blocking the hallway were a horde of undead Knights. And before Merlin even had time to comment on the sight before them, the horde surged forward as one. Merlin throws up his hand and his eyes flash gold, sending the horde flying back.
"Run," Merlin orders.
The three of them turn and run back down the stairs, only for Mordred to come to a sudden halt as they find the stairwell blocked by more of the undead.
"Go back up!" Merlin exclaims, as he sends the undead knights crashing down the stairs, only to reveal many more coming up the stairs behind them. "Go back up! Run!"
Merlin sends the undead Knights flying out of their way, as they run back up the stairs and along the hallway. Finally the reach a smaller staircase and Merlin doesn't hesitate to run up them shortly followed by Gwaine and Mordred.
Reaching the top of the stairs, Merlin spots a small room across from the hall from the stairs.
"In here," Merlin calls over his shoulder.
The three of them rush into the room and Merlin summons a gust of wind to slam the door shut behind them. Merlin stares through the metal grid in the door, watching for any movement on the stairs across from the door. But it didn't appear as if anything had followed them.
Merlin turned around and held up his hand.
"Léoht," Merlin's eyes flash gold.
An orb of light appeared above his hand, lighting up the room. Merlin's eyes widen as he gazes round the room. Hanging from the ceiling were hundreds of Mandrake roots.
"Forbearnan!" Merlin commands and every single Mandrake root in the room burst into blames and burns to nothing more than ash, with almost deafening screams.
Gwaine grips, Merlin arm as he almost doubles over in pain at the sound and before Merlin can even straighten up, the ground below their feet trembles.
"What was that?" Gwaine demands.
"I don't know," Merlin answers.
)o(
Merlin stands at the top of the stairs, Gwaine at his side. Two steps down from them Mordred was kneeling beside one of the undead Knights, which now was nothing more than a corpse like they had past when they had approached the tower.
"What happened to them?" Gwaine asks. "Why are they no longer… Undead?"
Mordred gets to his feet and turns back to face Merlin and Gwaine.
"I can't sense any remains of an enchantment," Mordred explains. "Whatever caused them to return to life… It wasn't normal magic."
Merlin frowns, "Fear lives only in the heart of men."
"Huh?" Gwaine asks.
"There was something Queen Mad told me," Merlin explains, moving forward to get a closer look at the dead knight. "'The tower is not a real place. It is the heart's rest. The mind's deepest fear.'. I've been trying to work out what she meant… Now I think I know."
Merlin turns and looks back at Gwaine, "The tower isn't real."
"It seems pretty real to me," Gwaine answers.
"But none of this is real," Merlin explains. "All of this is an illusion."
The tower around them suddenly trembles again.
"This tower is nothing more than illusion, created by what we fear most," Merlin continues to explain once the trembling stops. "Mandrake roots pierce the subconscious mind and bring our deepest fears to life. We destroyed the roots."
"It makes sense," Mordred nodes. "We destroyed the source of the fear, which creates the tower. The illusion no longer has a source of power, so it's fading."
"Merlin!" A voice suddenly called from the stairs behind them.
Merlin turns and looks round, to find Freya coming up the stairs towards him.
"Freya!" Merlin exclaims as the two of them embrace.
"We need to get out of here," Freya said, as she pulls back.
Merlin nodes, "We need to find the others first."
)o(
Merlin watches as Isolde body, wrapped in cloth, was placed upon the funeral pyre. Tristan stands nearby with tears running down his face. Many of the Knight had stepped forward and offered him their sympathies, but it had done little to comfort Tristan and Merlin couldn't help but feel like this was his fault.
He had reached Isolde far too late to be able to trade a life for the return of hers, like he had once done before… Merlin wasn't even sure it was possible to do it for a second time even if he had reached her in time. The balance between life and death was a scared thing, it could only be redistributed so many times.
A knight steps forward and hands Tristan a burning torch. Tristan stands still watching the flames for a moment, before he finally throws it forwards and onto the funeral pyre. As the flames climbed higher and smoke filled the air, Merlin turns to Gaius.
"I was warned that one of us would not return," Merlin tells him.
"It's not your fault Merlin," Gaius replies.
"Isolde is dead," Merlin states.
"The sword that Isolde fell prey to, was surely intended for Arthur," Gaius answers. "Now he is safe and so is Gwen."
Merlin turns to look at where Arthur stood with an arm around Gwen. Merlin couldn't shake the feeling that there was something different about Gwen, ever since they had rescued her from the tower… But Gwen had suffered at the hands of Morgana and her enchanted Mandrake roots for days…
After all one root had reduced Uthur to a quivering mess and Gwen had been trapped in a room with hundreds of them… Maybe it was just the lingering effects of roots. Merlin frowns slightly as Gwen shifts almost uncomfortably in Arthur's grip… But what if Morgana had done something else?
Suddenly a hand on Merlin's arm startled him and Merlin looks round to find Freya beside him. Freya then glances over at Gwen before looking back at Merlin, with a questioning look and Merlin smiles weakly with a slight shrug.
"I will keep an eye on her," Freya promises. "The effects caused by the roots can take some time to pass."
"Thank you," Merlin answers, raising Freya hand to his lips and kissing her knuckles.
Freya smiles and the two of them turn back to the burning pyre.
Later that night, Gwen shifts in her sleep before opening her eyes as she wakes. Beside her Arthur is asleep with his arms around her. Moving carefully Gwen frees herself from Arthur's grasp and stands from the bed and makes her was over to the changing screen, where she quickly cha gets out of her nightwear and into a grown and cloak.
Leaving her shared chambers, she walks through the castle, the hood of her cloak pulled low over her face. She makes her way through the castle and through thru castle gates undetected and walks through the lower town, using paths she knew the guards didn't patrol during her time living in that part of the city.
Crossing the drawbridge undetected, Gwen makes her way into the forest. Following the path through the darkness, Gwen was completely unfazed by the noises of the forest around her. Finally she reaches a clearing where Morgana is waiting for her. The two of the embrace before Morgana steps back and studies Gwen.
"How is he?" Morgana asks, referring to Arthur.
"Arthur thinks he has won," Gwen informs her. "He has no idea."
"Do you understand now who you can trust?" Morgana asks, running a hand down the side of Gwen's face.
"It's you Morgana," Gwen replies. "Its only ever been you."
"You are not one of them," Morgana smirks slightly. "And you never will be."
"You don't know how much I hate them," Gwen answers viciously. "All of them."
"You have done well to see past the lies to the real truth," Morgana smirks. "You have an important part to play in the future. Together we will ensure the destruction of everything that Arthur holds dear."
)o(
Hey, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Until next time,
Blessed be,
TreeOfLife1997.