TANYA'S HOUSE
Merlin stared at Henry.
His heart started to hammer in his chest.
The young warlock's eyes widened slightly in shock and a cold sweat seemed to break out through his bones and creep up the back of his neck.
He swallowed.
"What did you call me?" His voice was low and rough.
He stared right at the man laid out on the bed.
Despite his weak body, Henry's bleary eyes shone with something Merlin did not understand.
The small smile on the man's face made his confused heart sputter.
"I called you your name." Henry croaked.
Merlin swallowed, "You called me Emrys."
The attempt to chuckle brought on a weak cough from Henry.
The man winced in pain and for a moment Merlin's hands hovered.
What could he do?
How did Henry know…?
"Among my people, Emrys is your name." The man breathed roughly.
Merlin's eyes were wide and shocked as with all that he had, the aged man reached one hand to his other wrist, and pulled back the leather cuff like bracelet that he wore.
He pulled it away.
On his pale skin, as his hands fell back to his sides heavily on the thin mattress, the black druid symbol glared at Merlin.
The young warlock gasped quietly and stared at henry as though he was seeing the man for the first time.
"You are a druid?" He whispered.
Henry shifted slightly, his barely open eyes staring right at the young man sat at his side.
"I was." He croaked.
Merlin narrowed his eyes, shaking his head ever so slightly.
"I don't understand…"
"I wouldn't expect you to." Henry said in a low and rough voice.
His eyes closed for a moment and he sighed, shifting as best he could.
His head lolled to stare at the ceiling and his bleary eyes focussed on it.
Merlin could tell from the fog in his irises that he was not seeing the rafters that he was staring at.
He knew that the man was seeing the memories and images that accompanied the story he told.
His voice remained low, and aged even beyond his years.
He seemed to have seen enough for one lifetime.
"Tanya was born into the same clan of druids that I was living in… we were attacked many years ago, when she was but a child of five…"
"Attacked?" merlin gasped.
Tears burned in the corners of his eyes.
Henry swallowed painfully but did not look at the young warlock, "By a creature… a terrifying creature."
There was silence for a moment.
Henry swallowed in order to keep his voice from breaking.
He needed to speak.
There were things Merlin and Emrys both needed to know.
"Our group were attacked… I managed to escape with Tanya; she had been injured, attacked by this creature that had been let loose on us… everyone else was not so lucky. We were the only ones to survive."
Henry's heart faltered and he coughed slightly.
The young warlock sat with him was fighting a whirring fog in his ears and eyes.
His heart hammered.
Merlin leant slightly closer, "What kind of creature?"
"A creature that had the power to rip a person's magic from them." Henry turned his eyes finally on Merlin.
The young man gasped, more tears flooding his vision.
He wouldn't let them fall.
At least not yet.
"Tanya has magic?" He whispered.
"She did once." Henry said firmly, his voice full of firm regret, "But she has lived most of her life without it… she was bat a child when we escaped and she lost her magic to the creature… all we had was one another."
Merlin stared at the man as he coughed slightly and his voice croaked, "We never spoke of what happened, the past we left behind, and I never used magic in order to prevent her being upset…"
His eyes turned on Merlin and they were bleary yet searching his for some kind of recognition and understanding.
"I have never used magic since Tanya has been in my keeping… that is why I wore a leather bracelet, to hide what I was… I became a new man, abandoned my magic deep down inside of me and made an honest life for Tanya and I… for using it I would surely have risked her life as well as my own…"
"You toiled the fields as a labourer…" Merlin swallowed.
"We moved from kingdom to kingdom, with only one another to love and cherish… although I knew there would come a time when she would need someone else… even if I had been using my magic I could not have healed the old age that set into my bones." Henry croaked.
Merlin stared at him, the tears glazing his eyes.
"So that is why you came back to Camelot, just before Gwen was made queen… because you knew that you had grown frail…"
"Tanya needed a future, some hope of anything after I passed… she cared for me and looked after me, without a thought for the life she should have been leading, as a strong woman, kind, considerate and hardworking…" Henry coughed and swallowed his rough wheeze.
"But does she know about me?" Merlin demanded, tears dripping finally down his face, "Does she know that I am Emrys, does she know that… that you know…"
Henry stared at Merlin.
"No." His voice was low and rough, "She does not know that I know… and I do not know if she remembers that the druids used to speak of Emrys, I cannot see how she would know… we have not spoken of our former druid lives ever since we escaped… since she lost her magic and I gave mine up… I doubt she remembers anything of that life…"
He started to cough and Merlin reached forwards, letting the man grip his hand.
Merlin swallowed and blinked his stinging eyes.
The candles burned brighter.
Henry stared at him, his eyes a clear grey.
"Promise me that she will be safe…" He croaked, "That you will keep her safe…"
Merlin sniffed, "Henry…"
"She has been through so much… overcome so much since she was a child… she is like the daughter I never had…" He whispered hoarsely, "You have to look after her."
Merlin swallowed and moved his other hand to clasp over the old man's cold one that gripped his.
"I will."
OUTSIDE TANYA'S COTTAGE
Under the small window that was in the wall of her house that helped make up her father's room, a figure stood.
Tanya leant heavily back against the wall, her arms wrapped around herself.
She sniffed and gritted her teeth as her eyes closed and tears dripped down her face.
Their conversation broke her heart.
She swallowed and moved her hand to grip her other wrist, holding it to her chest over her heart.
Her palm pressed around the leather bracelet that covered the scar on her wrist of her old life.