I took a break from working on this story yesterday and worked on Golden protector. I didn't have an actual ending for the story so I just decided to write and it poured out. I tuckered myself out writing three chapters yesterday. I've extended on the battle scenes of this story and they are almost finished.
My grandma's staying with me for 2 or more weeks. I'm not sure how that's going to effect my writing speed. Tomorrow I'm going to see The Lion King. It's actually supposed to be my birthday celebration even though my actual birthday isn't till June 15. Many of the days were sold out including my b-day that was the last day it's in Toronto. We're doing this so it's not the same dinner and a movie but because it's so far before I'm still going to make her take me.
Deviner Captive
Lock 'n' Key
...
Kilgharrah landed a far distance away from where Dyfred camp was. It should be safe enough for them to camp for the night. They grabbed their packs that they'd tied to the dragon so they wouldn't fall off and climbed down. The clearing was large enough to support the dragons girth along with enough room for a decent camp site.
"I will be leaving to hunt." Kilgharrah informed them before taking back to the skies.
"I don't even want to know what a dragon hunts." Gwaine exclaimed with a shudder.
"I'm sure a couple farmers with be missing some live stock in the morning." Merlin shrugged as he dragged the ball and chain towards where the fire pit was being set up. He sat down on a log since he'd be no help with the ball and chain around his ankle.
They went about the normal routine of setting up camp without the menservants help for once. It was a lot more work than they remembered it being. It took them a while to collect enough fire wood for it to last the night.
Gwaine had leaned down and was trying to light the kindle with spark rocks with little success. Merlin sighed in depression as he watched. "What's wrong?" Gwaine asked hearing the melancholy in the boys voice.
"If I still had full control of my magic I have us a blazing fire in seconds." Merlin said with a reminiscent tone.
"Did you do that often before? Light the fire using magic while surrounded by knights on hunting trips and patrol." Gwaine asked and the boy shrugged.
Arthur over heard their conversation and saw his response. "Merlin! That was really irresponsible of you. What if someone had seen you performing magic. Don't you have any self preservation skills." Arthur snapped. He couldn't imagine how he would have gotten his manservant out of that situation if one of the knights had actually seen him. A nobles word was hard to dispute.
Merlin huffed at his reaction. "I was always careful to angle my eyes towards the ground and the woods usually too wet to catch fire like now. The spark rocks just don't do the job. Would you rather we not have a camp fire?" The warlock asked sarcastically with a roll of his eyes.
"Just cook the food." Arthur rebutted wanting to drop the conversation. He still wasn't comfortable talking about Merlin's magic yet. His manservant shuffled closer to the fire so that he could reheat some of the meat that Arthur had packed.
Putting the meat on sticks to cook. "The first thing we need to do is find a black smith." Merlin exclaimed at how hard it was to perform the simple task. He threw himself back into his spot exhausted.
"Now don't you wish we brought Elyan?" Gwaine asked the prince sarcastically. "Because you know he's a..."
"Shut up." Arthur cut him off as he rubbed his temples. Yes it would have been a much simpler situation if they had brought the knight who used to be a black smith. He could have probably told them how to get the two things off. He wished he'd brought all of his knights actually.
.
"What's the plan?" Gwaine asked now that he was fed and he could think about things other than food.
"I guess we'll head back to Camelot and regroup." Arthur shrugged too tired to think of anything.
"The problem is that Uther already has Camelot's army marching to give help towards Magonsaete " Merlin revealed a huge flaw in that plan.
"What?!" Arthur sat up surprise. Is that what he missed in the conversation Merlin and Gwrthfyr were having.
"But they should be able to handle it without you being used against them right?" Gwaine asked worriedly. Surely with the help of the warlocks power the Dyfred army was just like any other.
"Gwrthfyr managed to collect more supporters once he revealed his view on magic. With Camelot's strict laws, magic users flocked to Dyfred and asked to join. He now has more sorcerers at his disposal. " Merlin sighed in frustration. There was always something working against them.
"Like how many?" Gwaine asked curious.
"Enough to probably wipe the floor with Camelot's army." Merlin replied in frustration. "One is too many actually." After all these years protecting Camelot he came to the conclusion that they were defenceless against anyone with magic. No matter how much they liked to think otherwise.
"Camelot's army is great. We've fought worse things and come out alive." Arthur felt defensive about the fact that Merlin didn't think they could win. He'd trained most of the knights himself so he took it as a personal insult.
"Usually I'm there to take out the magical attacks threats and silently protect from the shadows." Merlin pointed out with a sigh. He usually took out the magical threat before they even knew there was one.
"So you're more powerful than any of the other sorcerers?" Gwaine asked and the warlock nodded. "Then can't you just take them all out like you usually do?" He said like it would be easy.
"Glad that you have so much confidence in me that you think I can take out 50 sorcerers single handedly, but there's one problem." Merlin replied tersely. "I'm not going to be any help until I get this collar off." He pulled down his neckerchief to show the metal choker around his neck.
"In the morning we'll find a black smith. We aren't too far from a town right now." Arthur said. Hopefully it wouldn't be hard to get the collar off and they could stop Gwrthfyr before it was too late.
"Yeah, don't worry. You'll be back to your old self in no time." Gwaine said to comfort his friend. Patting him on the back.
Merlin shrugged not knowing what was going to happen.
.
It had been a long and tiring they were all ready for bed.
"Where am I going to sleep tonight?" Merlin asked as he watched the knights unroll their bedrolls. The two men turned to each other when they realized they hadn't packed one for the warlock even though they were going on a rescue mission for him.
"Sorry bud, wasn't thinking about that before we left." Gwaine shrugged with a sheepish smile on his face. "I did bring something that might cheer you up though." The knight dug deep into his pack and pulled something and hid it behind his back. Walking over to where the boy was sitting he pulled it forward to show him what it was.
Merlin's eyes widened when he saw the wooden dragon he usually had on his night stand. He took the carving from the knight and ran his hands over the texture. "My father actually made this for my right before he died." The prince winced when he remembered their meeting with the dragon lord. "Why'd you decided to bring this with you?"
"I remember when I was staying with you how you said how much it meant to you. I had to save it when princess here was ripping apart your room. Knowing that I had to get that back to you." Gwaine explained.
"What'd Arthur do to my room?" Merlin asked, sending the prince a suspicious look.
Arthur tensed when he remembered how brutal he'd been. "I was still angry. I'd been put in charge of searching your chambers for magical items before and never found anything, so I was super thorough."
"Super thorough, doesn't even start to explain it." Gwaine gawked at his light description. "He completely trashed your room. Flipped the bed over and everything." He explained with actions to go along with his story.
"Managed to find your magic book and staff under a lose floor board though." Arthur said in his defense under his manservant's glare.
"Actually it's not my magic book, it's..." Merlin started.
"I know it's Gaius'" Arthur interrupted him. "It has his name written in it." He explained at Merlin's questionable look to how he knew that.
"Why do you have that staff anyways?" Gwaine asked curious.
Merlin smirked. "Two sidheswere trying to trade Arthurs soul for immortality and I stopped them. Decided to keep their staff because I thought it might come in handy one day. Which it has a couple times."
"They were trying to sell my soul." Arthur gawked at the story. "When did this happen? I have no memory of this incident."
"One word, Sofia." Merlin held up his pointing finger. The prince flushed when he heard that name. That happened the first year Merlin had come to work for him. It made sense now why he couldn't remember trying to run off with the girl.
"Who's Sofia?" Gwaine asked curiously.
"She was this beautiful girl and her father that Arthur saved in the middle of the woods from bandits. He took them back to Camelot and seemed immediately smitten with her. I originally thought that it was just normal love at first sight, until he asked Uther if he could marry her after only knowing her for three days." Merlin broke into giggles. "Then I realized he'd been enchanted."
Arthur's face flushed. "Let's forget this conversation and go to bed. I may not have packed a bedroll but I brought some of your clothes with me." Arthur revealed. He pulled out what he imagined as his manservant's uniform from his bag.
"That still doesn't solve the problem with where I'm going to sleep." Merlin pointed out as he took the clothes from his master. He was glad to have normal clothes again. The stitching on the robes were scratchy against his skin.
"You can sleep with me." Arthur volunteered before the other knight could beat him too it. They'd shared a bedroll before though this time would be a little different. It would be the first time since he'd realized his feelings.
"Fine." Merlin replied. He turned to walked to the tree line. "I'm just going to slip into something more comfortable. When he returned he still held the blue robes folded in his arms.
-They laid down to sleep. Shuffling around to find a comfortable position for them both. They ended up on their sides facing away from each other. That left Arthur starring at the back of Merlin's dark head of hair. He couldn't believe that they finally had him back. It seemed like he'd never see his manservant again only a few days ago.
The warlocks eyes were closed but he could still feel someone looking at me. "Stop starring at me."
"Sorry." Arthur whispered an apology.
Merlin turned over so that he could look him in the eyes. He was a little surprised at how close their faces were but he didn't show it. It was rare to hear an apology from the prince. "What is it?"
Arthur looked over his manservant's features. "I'm just glad you're back." He had an urge to close the small gap between their faces but he lost his nerve when the boy smiled at him.
"That's actually sweet." Merlin said with a teasing tone to his voice.
"Just go to sleep." Arthur replied trying to hide his feelings. Turning his back on the boy to hide his smile.
...
A black smith was just setting up his shop for the day and waiting for customers to start rolling in. He heard a loud thumb and swore he felt the ground shake a little. He was just about to go out and check to see what it was when three silhouettes showed up in his doorway.
"What can I do for you today?" He asked politely. The light hared one stepped forward dragging a raven haired boy behind him.
"I need you to remove two things from this idiot?" The blonde asked in a pompous tone. "We are kind of in a hurry. Is it possible to do it right now?"
The black smith raised an eyebrow at how rudely the boy was addressed by the other but nodded his head. "Of course. As long as you have the money to pay for it." He was running a business here and couldn't be giving away free services.
Arthur dropped a bag of gold on the work bench. "Is that enough." The coins all jingled together loudly.
The black smith furrowed his eye brows. Picking up the bag he felt how heavy it was. There must be at least 20 gold coins in here. 'Who are these people?'
.
After he arranged the tools he might need the black smith turned his attention to the boy. "Show me what the problem is."
Merlin sat on a bench and revealed his foot to the man. The shackle had started to chafe the skin around his ankle with all the running around. He had to resist the urge to itch at it.
"Did you get in some trouble boy?" The black smith asked. Usually the shackle was only used on heavy criminals that the law didn't want running off and interacting with the innocent civilians.
"It's a long story." Merlin shrugged.
Looking at the three men the black smith didn't think they were bandits or even bad people at all. They had an heir of honour about them. He decided not to question them since he was being paid so well. Taking his chisel he hit the clasp and the shackle sprang open easily.
Merlin lifted his foot and rubbed the feeling back into his ankle. Jumping up he walked around the room.
Grabbing Merlin to stop his movement. "This is what's really the problem." Arthur explained as he pulled the neckerchief out of the way for the man to see.
The black smith leaned closer to see what it is. Reaching over he felt the ruins under his fingers. "There's no clasp." He exclaimed in distress.
"No there isn't. It was magically closed off." Merlin confirmed the smiths observation.
"That may be a problem with the location of the collar. The neck is a sensitive part of the body. To remove something without a clasp it would take a lot of force to crack it apart." The black smith explained.
"So it's going to hurt?" Merlin asked in dread.
"That's fine. Just get it off." Arthur agreed readily. He noticed his manservant pale.
The black smith shrugged and came towards him with the chisel held ready to use in his hand. Merlin started to panic when an idea came to him. "If it was closed by magic, maybe we need magic to open it." Merlin said in a moment of inspiration.
"You can't use your magic." Arthur reminded him with his arms crossed.
Merlin waved him off. "We could find the druids." He suggested.
"What?" Arthur blanched at the suggestion. His father had prosecuted the druids for years. He didn't think they'd want him in their mists. "I'll just wait here for you then." Besides, Arthur didn't think he liked being around so many magic users.
Merlin rolled his eyes. "It'll be fine. Trust me." He knew as soon as the Druids realized what part the prince played in the legend it wouldn't matter what his father had done to them.
"Do druids even have black smiths?" Gwaine asked contemplatively.
"We won't know till we try. Let's go." Merlin shrugged and marched out of the smith's shop. Gwaine followed after him
Arthur sighed at the path they seemed to be going on. Noticing the blacksmiths look at their sudden departure. "Thank you for all your help. Keep the change." He gave a nod before following his companions out.
Merlin stalked back towards the dragon."Do you know where the closest druid camp is?" He asked while the other two caught up.
"Yes, I can sense a large grouping of magic users to the east. Why?" Kilgharrah asked curiously.
"I need you to take us there." Merlin explained as he climbed up onto the dragons back.
...
When they arrived at the druid camp it caused a scene. Besides that fact he was Emrys; it didn't help that they arrived on a dragon. The occupants started to whisper amongst themselves as they waded through the crowd.
-Merlin blushed when one of the druids actually bowed to him. He avoided the princes eyes as he shot his questioning looks. Suddenly the crowd parted for someone of importance.
"Emrys, I'm so glad you could join us." The druid leader greeted them graciously.
"Who's Emrys?" Gwaine asked curiously. "Is it some sort of title you place on the really strong magic users?"
"No, there has only ever been one Emrys." The druid leader replied adamantly.
"Did you change your name?" Gwaine asked Merlin. Maybe his friend had been born with a different name and when he moved to Camelot he had to change it to hide his true identity.
"No. it's the name the druids use for me because of some legend." Merlin replied with a sigh. No matter how long it had been since he first met Mordred and he'd first used it, he had never gotten used to being called Emrys.
"What legend?" Arthur asked. His father had always scoffed at the practice. It was too close to magic in his books.
"The legend of Emery's and the Once and Future King." The druid leader supplied the answer. Merlin groaned. He didn't think he was ready for Arthur to know about this on the top of everything else. He was sure it would make the prince's head even bigger. "This legend is Emery's is the person who is destined to help the once and future king reunite Albany and bring magic back to the land."
"King? Which king?" Arthur asked looking at his manservant for answers.
Merlin felt a blush across his face. "You're the Once and Future King." For some reason he felt embarrassed finally saying that to the prince himself.
"There's a legend, about me?" Arthur asked surprised.
Merlin rolled his eyes. "Yes. If I'm Emrys, what king did you think we were talking about? Uther, I don't think so."
One of the druid women stepped forward and spoke to them. "The prophesies are finally coming true. I've been told the legend since I was a little girl." It didn't make sense to them because the woman was old. She was around when magic was embraced by the masses. She was probably older than his father.
"What is the reason for your visit?" The Elder asked.
"Actually the reason we seeked you out is because I have a problem." Merlin admitted.
"I'll see what I can do. Follow me." The Elder said as he turned and headed into the sea of tents.
"So they don't have black smiths." Gwaine whispered to Arthur as they followed.
.
They entered a dimly lit tent. The druid had Merlin sit on a bench so that he could examine him properly. The man's hands ran over the ruins that were engraved into the metal. He had a look of concentration on his face.
"Can you remove it?" Merlin asked nervously.
"It shouldn't be too hard." The druid elder exclaimed with confidence. "I've seen collars like this before many years ago. They've fallen out of practice luckily."
"Thank god." Merlin said in relief. He'd been worried that their last ray of hope may be a dead end.
"I'm warning you now though, that even after the collar is removed it will take a while for your magic to be completely under you control again." The Elder forewarned him.
"As long as it comes back as mine, I'm fine with that." Merlin said with clear relief.
"Hold still." The druid elder instructed him. Merlin tensed his muscles to make himself stay in place. The druid chanted a couple words under his breath, clasps and a lock appeared."
"Too bad we don't have the key." Gwaine exclaimed as he looked at the lock.
"The thing about these collars is that all the keys are the same." The druid elder reached into a cabinet and pulled out what looked identical to what Gwrthfyr had been using to control him. The man placed the key to the lock and the collar swung open with a click.
Merlin immediately reached up to feel with his hands that it was opened. Pulling the metal off his throat he threw it as far away from himself as he could. It made a thump as it hit the canvas of the tent and slid down to the floor. Merlin started to giggle with glee. He couldn't believe it was off. He was free.
"Lucky you had that with you. I thought we would have to go through the trouble of going all the way back to the black smith." Gwaine exclaimed as he looked at what appeared to be to him a rock on a chain in the elders hands.
"Yes. I always keep things on hand because you never know when they will be needed. That came into my hands over 50 years ago." The Elder replied before turning his attention away to the legendary warlock. " Emrys remember that you shouldn't perform any magic until your powers have settled once more."
Merlin dropped his hands from where he'd been about to perform a small test. He felt embarrassed about being caught by the Elder doing something he shouldn't do. "How long do you think it will take? An hour, a day, weeks." Merlin asked anxiously. They didn't really have much time to wait around for his magic to reconfigure its self.
"I'd say at least till morning. You can wait that long I'm sure." The Elder replied knowing the boy was bursting in anticipation. "And remember that you should only perform small spells at first and work your way up."
"I can wait that long." Merlin nodded in agreement.
...TBC