Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.
Chapter four: Lochru's warning.
Merlin forces himself to sit up, beside him Freya is still asleep and outside the world was still shrouded in the darkness of the night. Merlin swings his legs over the side of the bed and hisses slightly as his bare feet touch the cold stone floor. Beside him Freya stirs in her sleep and her head turns to face Merlin, but she does not wake. Merlin sighs slightly, he knew he should wake her and tell her he's going, but she just looked too peaceful.
Walking over to the wardrobe, Merlin grabbed some cloths and stepped behind the changing screen.
He'd packed all the things he needed for there trip to Ismere, the night before and told his family he'd been gone for about a week... Merlin knew they could be walking into a trap and by some miracle Morgana still didn't know he was Emrys, so using magic was a last resort, when facing her in battle. But almost every other sorcerer knew of his power, so he had to be prepared.
Having changed Merlin stepped out from behind the changing screen, when he feels a pair of arms wrap around his waist.
"Why didn't you wake me, my love?" Freya asks.
Merlin smiles as he turns and hugs her back. "You looked too peaceful, beautiful."
Freya smiles, as she and Merlin share a kiss. "Be careful."
"When am I not?" Merlin grins.
"Merlin," Freya scolds lightly. "I'm being serious."
Merlin smiles and cups Freya's checks with his hands. "I promise you, I'll be careful... I'll be back before you know it!"
"As long as you come back..." Freya smiles slightly, trying to hide her worry.
"I'll bring you back a present," Merlin laughs, as he picks up his pack. "Now I better be on my way... I had Arthur yell at me enough yesterday."
"You could always turn him into a toad." Freya smiles, as she follows Merlin from their room.
"I think Gwen would kill me, if I did that." Merlin laughs quietly, as he enters his children's room.
After Merlin had said a quick good bye and kissed the forehead of each of his three children, he stepped back into the hall. Giving Freya one last kiss and one last hug, Merlin makes his way to his work room and through the door to Gaius's chamber.
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In the mines below Ismere, Gwaine works along side other men, hacking away at rocks with pikes and other hand held mining tools. As Gwaine prepares to swing his pike at the rocks again, he turns to Percival who's working beside him and flicks his hair out his face.
"Did you find the others?" Gwaine asks, keeping his voice low and glancing round.
Percival looks round, to make sure none of the Saxon guards had seen them talk.
"Every last one." He answers.
"Do they know what we're searching for?" Gwaine asks, before swinging his pike at the rock as a Saxon guard walks past, torch in hand.
"Some kind of key." Percival explains, after watching the guard walk out of sight.
Gwaine frowns slightly. "The key to what?"
"I don't know," Percival answers, as Gwaine leans closer to hear him. "But the men say Morgana's obsessed. She won't rest until she finds it."
"Let's hope we don't succeed, then." Gwaine answers, swinging his pike once more at the rock in front of him.
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Elsewhere, Arthur signals for the group of knights behind him to stop, as Merlin pulls his horse up next to him and studies the landscape before them. A wide gorge, meanders its way into the distance, steep grey cliffs shadow the path leading through the gorge and no plants can be seen growing within the gorge, all rocks and sand cover the path.
"The gorge marks the start of Annis' lands." Arthur explains to the men behind him, as Elyan and Leon pull their horses to a halt on Arthur's other side.
"It's prime ambush territory." Elyan mutters warily.
Arthur nodes, and points ahead. "Take some men and follow the ridge line."
Elyan nodes and he and a group of men ride head along the ridge over looking the gorge, to check for any possible ambushes. Meanwhile Arthur, Merlin, Leon and the others ride through the gorge. The gorge was eerily silent and nothing moved. Merlin along with most of the men looked round uneasily, but unlike the men, Merlin could sense something... Something wasn't right.
A sudden wind, whistled along the gorge making many of the men shift in their saddles and look round. Even the men walking on foot shivered slightly and moved closer to the horses. At the head of the group, Arthur and Leon just looked straight ahead, waiting for any sign of Elyan and the men who went with him. Ahead of them Elyan and the men ride towards them, at quite a fast pace.
"There's something you need to see." Elyan exclaimed, clearly slightly distressed.
Elyan leads them back the way he had come and everyone dismounts as they come to a small hill over looking what was once a village of some sort. Houses were built into the cliff, only the steps carved from cliff face, indicated that they were homes not just caves. There were huts too, small and shack like in structure, those who had once lived here, were poor and used to living in such harsh conditions, the cliffs around them were far from stable.
On the ground before them lay many of bodies, women, men and children. But most of the dead were women and children. As Arthur walked through the empty village, he drew his sword and began to check the huts for any possible survives. Not far behind him Leon and Elyan began doing the same, the men behind them quickly spread out and began checking the other side of the village.
Merlin who had walked past Arthur, began to walk towards the huts and steps leading into the cliff dwellings. As he walked around the back of a hut and onto some more open ground, a sudden wind blew around him and Merlin looked around, believing he had heard someone calling him by his druid name. He turns, looking round, but sees no one. Arthur and Elyan pass him on the path below were he is standing and they showed no indication of hearing anything.
Turning Merlin goes to follow them.
"Emrys..." A voice echoes.
Merlin turns round and spots a small cave entrance, glancing to see where the other are, he makes his way towards it.
"Emrys..." The voice echoes again, as Merlin walks along the narrow tunnel deeper into the cave.
Finally the tunnel opened out into a small cave, it wasn't much different from the cave Balinor, Merlin's father, had lived in. Personal objects lay scattered around the cave. A small stool stood close to one wall of the cave, while a table was on the other. Cloths, blankets and stripes of material stood in piles. While plates and bowls lay scattered around any remaining available space. Yet a walk way, leading to the back of the cave remained clear and free of objects.
Upon reaching the back of the cave, Merlin found a pool of water and beside the pool, lay an elderly man. He was lying on a pile of dark coloured blanket and it was quite clear he was ill and Merlin believed him to be dead, he barley moved. He had one arm out stretched over the pool of water, while the other was held close to his cheat, like his heart pained him.
Merlin moved closer and looked at the elderly man, his face was a pale as snow and had a slight blue hue. His lips were dried and cracked. His hair was grey and matted, while his face was cleanly shaved. Merlin then turned his attention to the elderly man's arm, which was over hanging the water. Merlin noticed a marking and lent across and turned the mans wrist. Upon the man's wrist were two druid symbols, one in dark blue ink and one in a murky yellow
"Lochru." Merlin mutters, recognising the symbols of the druid seer.
Suddenly man's other arm moves and Lochru grips Merlin's fore arm, as he tries to pull away.
"Emrys." His voice echoes like it had before, as Merlin meets his gaze.
"What happened to you? Who did this to your village." Merlin asks.
"That it happened at all... Is all that matters." Lochru speaks, his voice barely above a whisper. "I have been haunted by this moment, for many years... Since long before you set foot on this earth, Emrys... I have waited for its arrival, with sorrow in my heart."
Suddenly Lochru sits up so his face is inches from Merlin's face.
"For even as Camelot flowers, the seeds of her destruction are being sown... The prophecies speak of Arthur's bane. You would do well to fear it, for it stalks him like a ghost, in the night. Unless you act quickly, Emrys, even you cannot alter the never-ending circle of, his... Fate."
Lochru suddenly falls backwards and his hand splashes in the water. Turning Merlin looks into the water.
In the water images appear. Sounds of a battle fill the air and Arthur can be seen walking, around him dead knights and soldiers litter the ground. Damaged shields and broken weapons lie in the pools of crimson blood. Fires burn and the air is full of smoke. Suddenly Mordred the dark appears and he and Arthur fight. The sound of a sword entering flesh echoes and Arthur falls to his knees.
"Is he alive?" Arthur suddenly asks from behind Merlin, causing Merlin to jump and turn to face him.
Upon seeing the look on Merlin's face, Arthur steps forward, worried. "What is it?"
Merlin just looks at Arthur for a second before looking back down at the pool of water, only to see it as it was before the images appeared, he looked back up at Arthur and just shook his head.
"Come on, Merlin... You've seen a dead body before," Arthur mutters, knowing full well something was bothering Merlin and it wasn't as simple as a dead body. "As soon as we're given these people a proper burial, we're moving on."
Arthur turns and walks back towards the entrance to the cave. Merlin glances back down at the pool and then at Lochru, who had died the second the vision started, before getting to his feet and following Arthur out of the cave.
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Hey hope you liked that chapter. Next chapter should be up soon.
Blessed be,
TreeOfLife1997.