actions and consequences part three

by weepingelm

Can be read as stand alone but best read as part of series. Arthur has died of old age and Merlin has decided to fly with Aithusa to find the dragons of the east. He wants to escape mankind and relationships until Arthur returns. The first part will deal with the time before Arthurs return as this helps shape the changes in Merlin but Arthur does return later in the story.

4. Chapter 4

As the centuries passed changes began to occur in the country, and Merlin found he was moving further into the wilder areas as the human population grew. Then after some five hundred years he got the urge to travel. So every century or so he would take off and explore the world. He had to order Aithusa to stay behind, but promised to keep in touch with mind speak as long as he remained in range for mind speak.

Merlin mainly kept to the uninhabited regions, just going to settlements and towns when needed. He was surprised at the population growth since he travelled though before. There were many more towns and stone buildings. Europe was a different place than it had been when they travelled through it, on the way to China. But its people still seemed to prefer fighting to peace. He met some Knights Templers going on a Crusade to a place called Jerusalem. It seemed that a religion called the Catholic Church was fighting the Arabs. The Knights Templers said they had promised their god they would gain the holy land, and be chaste and had vowed poverty. Merlin found this strange as they appeared wealthier than many of the local people, and owned horses and armour. He couldn't help but think people would always bend the truth to fit their ideals, and that people would see only what they wanted to.

How fighting could be done in the name of the gods he was unsure, and always had been. He was surprised to hear that his country of birth was now united and called England, and the King was called Richard the Lionheart. But the king was spending most of his time in Europe and fighting on the crusades. He couldn't understand this at all. How much land did one person need? And why had people still not learned to live in peace? The idea of Albion where all could live in peace together seemed as far away as it ever had. Although he felt that what Arthur had built had been near to that, but alas it hadn't lasted.

Merlin took care when showing his magic, it was still suppressed in many areas so used it only when he was on his own. Anyway he didn't want to draw attention to himself. Travelling on he decided to briefly visit the site of the old Camelot, only to find hardly a trace remained. He was surprised that a lot of the surrounding woods had been cut down, and hoped that all the wildlife had found new homes. He went into the hidden cave that had once held Kilgarrah, and took a small sack of the gold Arthur had hidden for him. He also visited the lake in the hope that Freya would come to him but despite waiting for several days, and crying out for her, she never appeared so he set off once more.

He wanted to buy a few things on his way back; he needed a new carrier for his medicines, as his old one was getting very tatty. He spent long enough in England to learn the language. He was surprised how much it had changed since he had left. He made a promise to himself he would visit every few hundred years, so when Arthur returned, he would understand what the people where saying. The other thing he noticed while he was there, was the effects of the Kings absence was having on the country. The Regent Prince John seemed to be ignoring the people, and not following his brother's wishes. Oh well perhaps it was the way with siblings, he thought that perhaps it wasn't so surprising that Morgana fought with Arthur. Sometimes he was pleased he'd never had any brothers or sisters.

On his way back to the continent Merlin decided to look first further north than he had travelled before, one day he was approached by a group of outlaws. After first making sure he hid his gold with magic, he went back with them to their camp. The leader was called Robin Hood and he seemed to be trying to put right the wrongs being done to the common people, by the local leader. Robin's second in command, Little John, reminded him of Percy, they were both about the same height. There the similarities ended, where Percy hardly said a word, Little John was always talking. Robin himself seemed a nice enough man and his followers for the most part made him welcome. But Merlin soon moved on, as he didn't want to get involved as he could see himself making friends.

After that Merlin went back to his new home in China as quickly as he could, he was missing his dragon friends. He soon settled back into the way of life he had made for himself, and it was many years before he travelled again. In the mean time he helped the local villagers as before. They would visit him in his cave and leave him gifts in return for his healing powers. They seemed to like talking to him and believed him to be wise. Whenever they visited he met them in his Dragoon persona, as it seemed to fit his abilities better, less questions were asked of an old man. They never seemed to question why he had lived so long and he never gave away his secret.