Chapter 10
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He gave Carmen a wink as Elyan shoved the doors open, they ran into the council chambers swords drawn. As soon as they stepped into the room they were hit with the unmistakeable impact of dark magic. They were met with a spine chilling sight. The sorcerer was standing over an unconscious Arthur, his eyes groaning with magic. Lucan stepped away from the prince to face the crowd, his words were doused in poison.
"Here comes the cavalry." He spat, his voice lined with resentment.
Carmen and Merlin ran over to Arthur, Merlin knelt down next to him as did Carmen. Merlin felt his breath catch in his throat in panic when he saw his friend in such a state. He should have done something, he knew it, he should have stopped Arthur from leaving. He watched as Arthur struggled to breath, he was shaking. He knew Arthur would survive this, he always did, but for the life of him Merlin couldn't think how.
He met Carmen's gaze.
"Arthur, Arthur come on you have to wake up!" Carmen pleaded. She met Merlin's gaze, the young man was anxious and not just about his friend, she guessed what he was going to do, she couldn't let him use magic, not with everyone watching. The knights had positioned themselves in a circle round Lucan and were staring daggers at him, swords drawn. Carmen heard a cruel laugh escape his lips. With this she snapped, getting up off the floor and striding over to him, she then grabbed him by the throat, pushing him backwards.
"Reverse it." She screamed in his face. "Reverse the spell!"
"And why should I do that?" He laughed, he was enjoying this.
Carmen leaned into Lucan, whispering in his ear her voice was now a malignant hiss. Her eyes burned with rage.
"Because you know who I am, you know what I'm capable of, you've seen it first-hand." She leaned away and shot him a smile, a smile so filled with venom that no one would have been able recreate it, not even with all the hell fire in the devil's possession. Lucan couldn't hold eye contact.
"Fine." He looked away and at that moment, Merlin saw a change in Arthur. His previously still eyes were now rolling under their lids and his hand twitched. Eventually he was conscious and alert.
"Get him out of here." Lucan demanded of the knights
They were not going to wait for another chance, Merlin grabbed Arthur assisted by Elyan, despite Arthur's protests that he was "absolutely fine" and they proceeded to the door. Leon and Gwaine were not happy about letting Lucan get away a second time but it seemed they had no choice, they were in no position to negotiate. Carmen made to leave but she couldn't move, she felt a cold hand on her arm it sent shivers down her spine. She looked round and saw Lucan, his fingers wrapped round her arm, it hurt, his touch seemed to drain all of her energy. She dropped her sword and it fell to the stone floor with a crash.
"Get off me." She uttered, the words muted by her lethargy.
By this time all of the knights had made it out of the hall, she was alone with the villain. Gwaine looked round on the sound of her sword falling, he stalked back toward Lucan, his head was now pounding and it took everything he had to just walk in a straight line.
"I just want to talk." He whispered silkily in her ear.
"I have nothing to say to you." She stated, resolute but tired.
"You heard her." Gwaine added, sword drawn circling Lucan.
"Gwaine!" Lucan cooed, "How's the head?
Carmen could still feel his hand on her skin and it made her feel sick. She took this opportunity to get away from him, elbowing him in the ribs and making for the doors, grabbing her sword on the way.
"Run!" she shouted to Gwaine.
But Lucan was not going to let her get away that easily, he raised his hand and…
"Ádræfan sé hyrd." Lucan pronounced and with that the great oak doors slammed shut.
They both ran towards the door, refusing to believe that they were trapped. They hammered on the door desperate for the others outside to hear them and do something, both Gwaine and Carmen knew that they'd need a miracle to survive this on their own. They both turned round, finally facing their enemy. He was the perfect embodiment of a demon. Carmen looked to Gwaine, he looked like death, he was pale and drawn and could barely stand up. The attack had taken its toll on him and it was meant to, Carmen knew this sorcerer, she knew his style. He would drain his victims of all energy until they couldn't fight back, then he would tear them apart. He was a coward. Lucan smiled as Gwaine lost consciousness
Gwaine could feel his energy leaving him, his head was killing him. He could barely breathe. He felt his legs give way, and then it went black.
…
Merlin heard the door slam behind him, he threw a look over his shoulder. He could feel the magic bleeding from behind the wood. He then heard Arthur's worried tone from behind his head.
"Where's Gwaine and Carmen?" Arthur demanded.
The next thing they heard was hammering at the doors, pleads of escape. Followed by a scream that made the men's blood run cold. Then silence.
…
"Why are you doing this?" Carmen asked, repressing the fear and fighting back the shake in her voice.
"You know why." He hissed callously, ice formed on every word. "I never got you back for what you did to me, it seems now is the perfect opportunity. I am going to destroy you."
He raised his hand, Carmen backed away but she had nowhere to go. She knew what was coming.
"Máius héo onfindan cwealm!" Lucan incanted, his voice stirring up centuries of magic and power.
Carmen screamed, the pain was unbearable. She couldn't last more than three seconds before falling to the floor in agony. Luckily it didn't last long, ten seconds at the most, but that was all that was needed, it could have easily killed her. But he wouldn't let her go that easily, he wanted her to hurt just as he had hurt.
Carmen lay on the floor, Lucan was prowling towards her. She didn't want him anywhere near her. In a rash decision-maybe one that she'd regret later-she raised her arm and allowed the magic to fill her body, her eyes glowed gold and…
"Ágælan hine áflíegung"
Lucan was thrown away from her, he hit the opposite wall and slid to the floor, unconscious.